Container erecting and holding device

ABSTRACT

A device is provided for erecting and holding a flattened tubular container blank of generally rectangular cross section in an open and upright position, from its external vertical sides, for use in a container forming, filling, and sealing machine. The device includes a backing plate for engaging the outer surface of a first wall of the container blank, a pair of side flanges that extend normally outward from the backing plate for engaging the outer surface of the pair of opposed container walls adjacent the first wall, and a locking lip that extends inwardly from the outer end of one of the side flanges for engaging the outer surface of the container wall opposite the first wall to keep the container blank in an open position against its inherent resiliency to return to flattened form.

United States Patent [72] Inventors Ronald L. l-Ientges Minneapolis; Howard R. Garrett, St. Paul, both of Minn. [21] Appl. No. 850,527 [22] Filed Aug. 15, 1969 [45] Patented Oct. 19, 1971 [7 3] Assignee Haskon Incorporated Warsaw, Ind.

[54] CONTAINER ERECTING AND HOLDING DEVICE 5 Claims, 11 Drawing Figs.

[52] 0.8. CI 915/53 R, 93/36 SO, 93/44.1 GT, 93/94 PS, 269/258, 269/265, 269/287 Primary Examiner-Wayne A. Morse, Jr. Attorney-Finnegan, Henderson & Farabow ABSTRACT: A device is provided for erecting and holding a flattened tubular container blank of generally rectangular cross section in an open and upright position, from its external vertical sides, for use in a container forming, filling, and sealing machine. The device includes a backing plate for engaging the outer surface of a first wall of the container blank, a pair of side flanges that extend normally outward from the backing plate for engaging the outer surface of the pair of opposed container walls adjacent the first wall, and a locking lip that extends inwardly from the outer end of one of the side flanges for engaging the outer surface of the container wall opposite the first wall to keep the container blank in an open position against its inherent resiliency to return to flattened form.

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n gin/269a, fine/arson 6x30106001 ATTORNEYS CONTAINER ERECTING, AND HOLDING DEVICE This invention relates to a container erecting and holding device. More particularly, it relates to a device for erecting and holding a flattened tubular paperboard container blank in an open and upright position for use in container forming, filling, and sealing machine.

In prior art container-forming machinery, mandrels have generally been used for interiorly supporting container blanks during the machinerys bottomforming operation. With various-sized containers, however, separate mandrels for each size must be provided and the mandrels must be removed and replaced to correct the machinery for the varying widths and lengths of the container blanks.

Further, the use of mandrels to interiorly support the container blanks during a bottom-forming operation requires additional equipment to erect the carton in an open position so that it can be slipped onto the mandrel and to subsequently strip the bottom-fonned container from the mandrel and transfer it to the machinerys top filling and sealing operations. Depending on the attitude of the bottom-formed container after it has been stripped from the mandrel, mechanisms may also be required to turn the container over into an upright position for the filling operation. Not only is valuable operating time lost in this method of operation, but the need of additional equipment and mechanisms necessarily adds to the cost of the machine and also introduces susceptible points of machine failure, resulting in improperly formed and/or filled containers.

It is thereforedesirable to provide a simplified device that can be used to both erect a flattened tubular container blank in an open and upright position and hold it in that position throughout the machine's forming, filling, and sealing operations to eliminate the need for additional and costly equipment to erect and transfer the container blanks between machine operations.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a device for erecting and holding a flattened tubular container blank of generally rectangular cross section in an open and upright position for use in a container forming, filling, and sealing machine comprising a backing plate for engaging the outer surface of a first wall of the container blank, a pair of side flanges extending normally outward from the backing plate for engaging the outer surfaces of a pair of opposed container walls adjacent the first wall, and a locking lip extending inwardly from the outer end of one of the side flanges for engaging the outer surface of the container wall opposite the first wall to keep the container blank in an open position against its inherent resiliency to return to flattened form.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory but are not restrictive of the invention.

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate an embodiment of the invention, and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention.

Of the drawings:

FIG. I is an overall perspective view. of a container forming, filling, and sealing machine suitable for use with the container erecting and holding device of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the container erecting and holding device of this invention;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view similar to FIG. 2, but showing the device for use with container blanks of relatively shorter length;

FIG. 4 is a side view of a flattened tubular container blank;

FIG. 5 is an end view of the flattened blank shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the container blank in an open and upright position;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a container after it has been bottom formed, filled, and top sealed;

FIGS. 8, 9, and 10 are a series of diagrammatic views showing, in sequence, the erecting of a flattened blank in the device of this invention; and

FIG. 11 is a schematic perspective view illustrating sequential positions of a container blank, as it passes through bottom forming, filling and top sealing stations of a machine utilizing container erecting and holding devices constructed in accordance with the teachings of the present invention.

The novel and improved device of the present invention, which permits ease in erecting a flattened tubular container blank in an open and upright position, and for holding the container blank in that position from its external vertical sides, has been illustrated in the drawings with a container forming, filling, and sealing machine described in detail in our copending application Ser. No. 850,417, filed Aug. 15, I969 now U.S. Pat. No. 3,579,958, issued May 25, I971, and entitled Machine for Forming, Filling, and Sealing Containers. This application is assigned to the assignee of the present invention, and reference should be made to this application for a more complete description of the machine. There is no intention, however, to limit the device of the present invention for use with such a machine, for it will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that the device may be used with various types of container forming and/or packaging machinery.

The erecting and holding device of the present invention is particularly suitable for use with thermoplastic-coated paperboard container blanks as described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,l20,333 and 3,120,335 and the disclosure of these patents is incorporated herein by reference.

With reference to FIGS. 4 to 7, there is illustrated a typical container blank 10 for use with the device of the present invention. Container blank 10 comprises a tubular body portion 12, of generally rectangular cross section in opened position and having a first pair of opposed sidewalls l4 and a second pair of opposed sidewalls l6, interconnected with sidewalls 14. Top and bottom closure panels, generally 18 and 20, are formed from integral extensions of the containers sidewalls and are folded and sealed in such a manner as to provide a closed container, as shown in FIG. 7.

Container blank 10 is generally supplied in flattened form, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, with side seam flap 22 already sealed in place and having a first pair of opposed folded corners 24 and two opposed longitudinal score lines 26 for forming a second pair of folded corners when the container blank is in open position. The erecting and holding device of the present invention, therefore, is particularly designed to readily open the flattened blank in addition to holding it in an open position, but it will be obvious to one skilled in the art that container blanks prefabricated to a greater degree can also be used with the present device.

With reference to FIG. 1, there is shown a machine for automatically and sequentially forming, filling, and sealing thermoplastic-coated paperboard container blanks. Flattened tubular container blanks, as shown in FIG. 4, are continuously fed into the machine and are fed in sequence on an automatic and continuous basis through the machines forming, filling, and sealing operations. Upon completion of the machine's operations, filled containers, as shown in FIG. 7, are discharged and may be removed to another operation, such as a machine for packaging the filled and sealed containers in a larger case.

Briefly, the machine includes a support base or table 30 having legs 31 and supplied with electric power and compressed air from appropriate external sources. A turret wheel assembly 32 is rotatably mounted to the top 33 of table 30 about a vertical axis 34. Turret assembly 32 includes a hub 36 and a plurality of arms 38, eight of which are shown in the blank, refers to the blank in an unfolded position in which it has a generally rectangular cross section and not to the container itself which may be open or closed depending on its location in the machine.

As best shown in FIG. 2, erecting and holding device 40 in cludes a mounting block 42 that slips onto the end of an arm 38 and a thumbscrew 44 threaded into block 42 to secure it to the end of the turret arm. A backing plate 46 is secured to the outer face of mounting block 42 and a pair of side flanges 48 and 49 extend normally outward from the ends of the backing plate. Side flanges 48 and 49, in cooperation with plate 46, define a generally U-shaped holder 50 having a width and depth slightly larger than the outer dimensions of the tubular body 12 of an open container blank.

To hold the container in its open position against its inherent resiliency to return to its flattened form, and as best shown in FIG. 2, a locking lip 52 is provided that extends outwardly from the outer end 54 of side flange 48 and inwardly a slight distance toward the other side flange 49 to provide an access opening 56 into U-shaped holder 50. Preferably, locking lip 52 forms a 120 angle with the inner surface 57 of flange 48 and the outer end 55 of side flange 49 is coplanar with its inner surface 59.

To erect a container blank within a holder 50, and as schematically illustrated in FIGS. 8-10, the blank in flattened form is held in an upright position and one of the folded corners 24 is inserted through opening 56 in the holder and into comer 58 diagonally opposed from locking lip 52. Container blank 10 is then pushed further into holder 50 against corner 58 as shown in FIG. 9, flanges 48 and 49 and backing plate 46 cooperating to open the container into a generally rectangular cross section. The blank is then pushed all the way into holder 50 until the other folded comer 24' of blank 10 locks behind locking lip 52, as shown in FIG. 10. Due to the container blanks inherent resiliency to return to its flattened form, lip 52 acts against this resiliency to snugly keep the container blank in the holder in an open and upright position.

The container blanks may either be inserted into erecting and holding device 40 by hand, in the manner described, or suitable means (not shown) may be provided for automatically inserting the blanks into the device.

Preferably, the erecting and holding device of this invention is designed for use with container blanks of similar cross section but varying lengths, such as half-pint, pint, and quart size containers.

As shown in FIG. 2, therefore, a second U-shaped holder 50' comprising a backing plate 46', side flanges 48' and 49' and a locking lip 52', is suspended by bars 60 from mounting block 42 in vertical alignment below U-shaped holder 50. With relatively longer length container blanks, such as quart size containers, U-shaped holder 50 engages the lower portions of the blanks sidewalls while upper U-shaped holder 50 engages its upper portions.

In accordance with the invention, pivot means are provided for moving lower U-shaped holder 50' to an out-of-the-way position, when only one holder is necessary to hold relatively smaller length container blanks, such as pint and half-pint size containers. As embodied and as shown in FIG. 3, this means comprises pivotally mounting bars 60 to mounting block 42 at 62 to permit lower U-shaped holder 50' to be pivoted up and over top U-shaped holder 50 and into an out-of-the-way position. An adjustable cam wheel 64 acting against bars 60 is further provided for adjusting vertical alignment of holders 50 and 50'.

For use with containers having a larger cross section, such as half-gallon and gallon size containers, it will readily be appreciated that erecting and holding device 40 can simply be removed by unscrewing thumb wheel 44, removing the device from turret arm 38, and inserting in its place a similar device having the correct cross-sectional dimensions.

In operation of the machine illustrated in H6. 1, a container blank 10 is erected in erecting and holding device 40 in an open and upright osition in the manner described above at a machine loading 7 with top closure panels 18 up, and bottom closure panels 20 down. A vertically adjustable platform 72 is mounted to the top of table 30 at loading station 70 for vertically aligning the container blank in the proper position with respect to U-shaped holders 50 and 50'.

After the container blank is properly positioned in the holders, turret assembly 32 is rotated with an indexing motion for sequential registration of the container holder with each of the machine's forming, filling, and sealing operations, as more fully described in our above-mentioned copending application.

After passage through the machine, the container holders on turret assembly 32 are indexed to discharge station 74 where formed, filled, and sealed containers are removed by hand or discharged from the holder 40 by any other suitable means (not shown). On the last index, the erecting and holding device 40 rotates back to loading position 70 to receive yet another container blank and start the cycle over again.

Thus, it can be seen that an individual container blank is always held in the erecting and holding device of this invention in an upright and open position from its external sides throughout the entire machine's operation stations, thereby always leaving the interior of the container blank free and eliminating the need for any removal, transfer, and realignment mechanisms heretofore used when transferring the container blanks between machine operations.

The invention in its broader aspects is not limited to the specific details shown and described and departures may be made from such details without departing from the principles of the invention and without sacrificing its chief advantages.

What is claimed is:

l. A device for erecting and holding a flattened tubular container blank of generally rectangular cross section having top and bottom foldable closure panels in an open and upright position and from its external vertical sides only during bottom forming, filling and top sealing of the container blank comprising: a backing plate for engaging the outer surface of a first wall of the container blank; a pair of side flanges extending normally outward from the backing plate for engaging the outer surfaces of a pair of opposed container walls adjacent the first wall wherein the backing plate and side flanges define a generally U-shaped holder open at the top and bottom; and a locking lip extending inwardly from the outer end of one of the side flanges for engaging the outer surface of the container wall opposite the first wall to snugly hold the container blank in an open position against its inherent resiliency to return to flattened form.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the locking lip forms an obtuse angle with the inner surface of the side flanges.

3. The device of claim 2, wherein the locking lip forms a angle with the inner surface of the side flange.

4. The device of claim 2, wherein the outer end of the other of said side flanges is coplanar with its inner surface.

5. The device of claim 1 for use with container blanks of varying lengths including a second U-shaped holder, mounted in vertical alignment and spaced below the first U-shaped holder, and means for pivoting said second U-shaped holder to an out-of-the-way position. 

1. A device for erecting and holding a flattened tubular container blank of generally rectangular cross section having top and bottom foldable closure panels in an open and upright position and from its external vertical sides only during bottom forming, filling and top sealing of the container blank comprising: a backing plate for engaging the outer surface of a first wall of the container blank; a pair of side flanges extending normally outward from the backing plate for engaging the outer surfaces of a pair of opposed container walls adjacent the first wall wherein the backing plate and side flanges define a generally U-shaped holder open at the top and bottom; and a locking lip extending inwardly from the outer end of one of the side flanges for engaging the outer surface of the container wall opposite the first wall to snugly hold the container blank in an open position against its inherent resiliency to return to flattened form.
 2. The device of claim 1, wherein the locking lip forms an obtuse angle with the inner surface of the side flanges.
 3. The device of claim 2, wherein the locking lip forms a 120* angle with the inner surface of the side flange.
 4. The device of claim 2, wherein the outer end of the other of said side flanges is coplanar with its inner surface.
 5. The device of claim 1 for use with container blanks of varying lengths including a second U-shaped holder, mounted in vertical alignment and spaced below the first U-shaped holder, and means for pivoting said second U-shaped holder to an out-of-the-way position. 